MLS: Union making name for themselves as road warriors

CHESTER — The reputation of John Hackworth’s Philadelphia Union squad is growing in MLS.

Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in its ability to pick up results on the road this young season. The Union (3-2-2, 11 points) sport a 2-1-1 record away from PPL Park. The seven points collected and seven goals scored on the road are both tied for league highs.

They get another chance to add to that this week when the Union visit the New England Revolution (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.).

“We want to continue that. It’s not something that I think is a fluke, that we are doing things better,” Hackworth said Wednesday at his weekly press conference. “We’ve tried to be consistent about the way that we’re playing, how we’re approaching these games, our game plan going into these games. Hopefully we can continue that this weekend.”

Last week’s 3-2 win at D.C. United kicks off a stretch of three road games in four weeks — including a trip to Chicago May 11 — all against teams hovering at the Eastern Conference basement.

Last year’s Union managed just three wins away from home all season; with the types of performances they’ve strung together of late, there’s a very good chance the 2013 squad can equal that number before the calendar turns to May.

Hackworth credits the ability to produce results in hostile environments to a combination of the veterans he brought in in the offseason and the maturation of the nucleus already assembled.

“I would definitely think that you look at the older guys and the influences they’ve had on our younger roster, and it’s been very positive.” Hackworth said. “When you talk about games that we’ve played in well last year but we didn’t get the result versus games this year where we’ve really managed things much better, I think for me as a coach my feeling on it is that you have players with better experience. That means some of the veteran experience but also some of the young guys that went through this last year, they’ve learned their lessons and you see some of that happening this year.”

This week’s trip will be fraught with novel challenges. It’s the first game for New England (1-3-2, 5 points) at home since the Boston Marathon bombings April 15. Among the nearly 200 injured was the father-in-law of veteran Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis.

The emotions of the event, the first held at Gillette Stadium since the attack, will be particularly pronounced for Boston native Sheanon Williams.

“I can go back and visit a couple of family members, check in with a few family members and make sure everyone is doing okay,” Williams said. “… That whole event is behind us and we can start to recover and move forward as a city. That’s what they’re going to do, and it’s a time to heal and get better.”

Hackworth, though, knows that won’t be the only mitigating factor. Hackworth re-emphasized Wednesday his well wishes for defender Kevin Alston, who is out indefinitely while undergoing treatment for leukemia. And on the field, the Revs have struggled, including a 4-1 shellacking at the hands of New York last week.

All of those factors will make for an environment Hackworth will have to prepare his team for Saturday.

“I think everybody was affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy and everything that happened. I know that we were all glued to our TV sets and wanted answers,” Hackworth said. “… There’s a lot of emotion going into this game that we’re definitely going to be a part of. I think that’s a good thing about sports some times. It’s just a game, but you can bring two teams and a group of people together, a city, a community to watch a good sporting event, and hopefully that’s what this will be.”

For more on the Union, visit Matthew’s blog at uniontally.blogspot.com.